The Ottawa free trader., 1887-10-15
HOW THE TARIFF is RESPONSIBLE

J. HOW THE TARIFF Is RESPONSIBLE
. The organizations of trusts" and syn
dicates," for the purpose of controlling thu
production and price of articles of genera
necessity, IS one OF the evil tendencies o
the tines But those who jump TO tn,
!. conclusion that II Is the fruit of the tariff
as some of the democratic papers pretend
take a very superficial view Of the situa
: ton. One of the worst syndicates In the
country at this time Is the hard coal syn
dicate, which put up prices at the very be
ginning of the season, notwithstanding
immense quantities of coal waited ship
meni at the mines and thousands OF miners
were begging for work. There is no duty
on hard coal --Ottdpd RcpuJltcdH,
That the "evil tendency of the times,
known as the organization of "trusts," Il
place an artificial and exorbitant price or
the necessarics of life, is not one of the
fruits of the tariff, is only measurably cor
rect A trust 10 raise the price of bart
wire, agricultural i'll plements, and like ar
ticles, upon which there Is no tariff, could
of course, not be said to be the fruit of q
tariff on such articles, but would not the
object Of the trust be the same In nature
The barb wire manufacturers are hampered
by the high price of their stock In conse.
quence of the tariff on iron, and so are the
manufacturers of all kinds of agricultural
implements, They can't "even up" with
the iron masters by getting Congress to
"protect" them by a tariff on the articles
they produce, tor there are no foreign
manufacturers to compete with them, and
they haven't the cheek to ask Congress fOr
a "bounty" on their articles, which Is ex-
actly what the tariff amounts TO to the iron
men. Yet the business of manufacturing
barb wire, agricultural implements, &c, Is
overdone by excessive home competition,
and no longer pays the big profits 1t once
did, and what's TO be done? Why, exactly
what Congress does for the "ir0n lords
the manufacturers must obtain "protection"
against home competition, and the only
way to do that is to organize themselves
into gigantic "trust"-limit production
and put up prices.
So, II is seen, the tariff and the trust are
the same In nature-the same yaller dog
The same In genus, species and variety.
They are all schemes to put up prices be-
yond the natural level which would other
wise result from natures and heavens law
of supply and demand.
"One of the worst syRdicates In the
country at this time is the hard coal syadi-
cate-yet there Is no duty on hard coal,
says our cotemporary. There IS no duty
on hard coal, for the simple reason that nc
other country produces the article; but
there is a heavy duty on sea Goals, the
Goals mined In Nova Scotia and along the
northeast Atlantic coast, and that Is the
only coal that can successfully compete
with anthracite or hard coal Open the
ports of Boston, New York, Philadelphia
and Baltimore to the free importation OF
Nova Scotia and Newfoundland Goals, and
the Pennsylvania coal monopoly would
have Its back broken In less than month
As to the coffee syndicate, Of which oul
contemporary speaks, that was a "corner,
such as King Armour, In Chicago, is won
20 get up on pork and lard, and his les
fortunate imitators-the board of trad,
gamplers-try so often, and as often disas
trously fall, with grain. Yet even tha
species of gambling is not without Its re
semblance to tariff operations. All ar,
bottomed on the same object-to circum
vent and defeat honest com petition.
As we have often taken occasion to sa
heretofore, there Is no doubt but there ar
, industries In this country that II Is but jus
' and right to nurture and build up by tarii
protection. They are industries that W
need to utilize home raw material and
: place the country In position of indeper
h dence In case Of foreign complications an
the destruction or suspension of foreig
T trade. But that these or any industrie
; should be protected for any other purpos'
!. especially tor that commonly and mend'
!. ciously asserted plea, for the protection {
IS American labor against the pauper labc
of Europe" the man who offers such a
d argument In justification of all the gigant
IS impositions extortions and wrongs covere
!, by our monstrous system of tariff exactiol
~ Is either dishonest OF daft-for any but
/, common fool must know by this time th'
's the tariff has, and can have, no more effet
. :, on the price of labor In this country tina
sr one of Virgins storms, so long as there
ST free trade In labor, and the entire paup,
N population Of Europe can be emptied upC